Conversations
Keynotes, presentations, and thought leadership across global platforms
Featured Conversation
Featured Conversation
#147—Martin Reeves: The Like Button That Changed the World
The “like” button wasn’t supposed to change the world.
It started as a few lines of JavaScript code, born from cultural quirks and accidental discoveries. Yet this simple feature reshaped entire business models and rewired human behavior.
In our latest Outthinkers podcast, we speak with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute and author of “Like: The Button That Changed the World.”
Martin’s research reveals a counterintuitive truth about innovation: breakthrough ideas rarely emerge from lone geniuses having eureka moments. Instead, they bubble up from messy communities, chance encounters, and unexpected recombinations of existing concepts.
The “like” button exemplifies this perfectly.
What began as a simple feedback mechanism became the foundation for attention economies, algorithmic curation, and social validation systems that extend far beyond social media.
For strategists, this episode offers a practical lens for recognizing serendipitous innovation within organizations.
The challenge isn’t manufacturing breakthrough moments—it’s creating conditions that allow unexpected connections to flourish.
Core Ideas
Zoom Out to Make Sense of Today’s Strategy Challenges
Take AI From a Question of Tech to a Strategy of Value Creation
Turn External Forces Into Internal Opportunities
How Innovation Really Works
How to Reimagine your Company
Competing on Imagination
Competing with Technology
Why Your Strategy Needs a Strategy
The Biology of Strategy
Building a Company Which Lasts 100 Years
Competing on Resilience
Leading with Curiosity
Competing on Learning
The Playful Enterprise
Appearance in date order
Lessons in Innovation from the “Like” Button featuring Martin Reeves
Alumni Learning Consortium
- Learn how to distinguish between “noise” and small, unassuming features that have the potential to scale into global standards and redefine industries.
- Examine the “serendipitous yet structured” innovation process used by giants like PayPal, YouTube, and LinkedIn to create products that become intuitively and universally understood.
- Discover how to use insights from neuroscience and evolutionary biology to predict how your products will impact human behavior and long-term market dynamics.
The Best Business Minds: Martin Reeves author of “Like: The Button That Changed the World”
The Best Business Minds
Marc Kramer, host of the award winning The Best Business Minds, interviews Martin Reeves author of “Like: The Button That Changed the World”
The mathematical signature that drives serendipity and invention
The Royal Institution
In the Royal Institution’s lecture theatre, Martin Reeves reveals the startling truth about how innovation happens in science and technology.
#147—Martin Reeves: The Like Button That Changed the World
Outthinkers Podcast
The “like” button wasn’t supposed to change the world.
It started as a few lines of JavaScript code, born from cultural quirks and accidental discoveries. Yet this simple feature reshaped entire business models and rewired human behavior.
In our latest Outthinkers podcast, we speak with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute and author of “Like: The Button That Changed the World.”
Martin’s research reveals a counterintuitive truth about innovation: breakthrough ideas rarely emerge from lone geniuses having eureka moments. Instead, they bubble up from messy communities, chance encounters, and unexpected recombinations of existing concepts.
The “like” button exemplifies this perfectly.
What began as a simple feedback mechanism became the foundation for attention economies, algorithmic curation, and social validation systems that extend far beyond social media.
For strategists, this episode offers a practical lens for recognizing serendipitous innovation within organizations.
The challenge isn’t manufacturing breakthrough moments—it’s creating conditions that allow unexpected connections to flourish.
Strategy: The Art of Problem Solving With Imagination
Strategic Minds Podcast
In this episode, Rich sits down with Martin Reeves — chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, prolific business strategist, and co-author of books like The Imagination Machine, Your Strategy Needs a Strategy, and his recently published work, Like: The Button that Changed the World.
Europe’s key leaders head to Washington to back Zelensky. Plus: Are young people reading books again?
The Monocle Daily
Volodymyr Zelensky heads to Washington accompanied by Europe’s top leaders. Can any progress be made? Plus: Israel faces increasing domestic pressure about the Gaza war and we discuss why young people are reading books again.
How Digital Feedback Shaped the World with Rita McGrath and Martin Reeves
Thought Sparks
In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, speaks with Martin Reeves, Chair of the BCG Henderson Institute.
There’s Nothing Like This with Kevin Evers
Thinkers & Ideas
In There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, Kevin Evers examines the singer-songwriter’s remarkable career success from a business strategy perspective.
The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century with John Kay
Thinkers & Ideas
In The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century: Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong, John Kay provides a novel perspective on the evolution of the contemporary corporation.
American Metamorphosis
The Atlantic
A prominent choreographer, a professor of Organizational Behavior, and the chair of BCG’s Henderson Institute share insights and personal stories of how creativity builds resilience.
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